Daily Digest

Construction Loan Filed for Midtown Fred’s

The developer of a 16,000-square-foot Fred’s Inc. retail store at 1290 Lamar Ave. in Midtown has filed a $1.7 million construction loan for the project.

Erb Walker-Tennessee GP filed the Tennessee construction deed of trust and fixture filing, assignment of rents and security agreement July 26 through Magna Bank. Partners Jack Erb and John B. Walker signed the trust deed.

Their related entity, Memphis-Shelby Drive LLC, submitted plans to the city-county Office of Planning and Development for the new store at the corner of Lamar and Cleveland.

The 2.2-acre property is owned by Collierville-based Renaissance Memphis LLC and shows an address of 1318 Lamar Ave. by the Shelby County Register of Deeds and Shelby County Assessor of Property.

Renaissance Memphis bought the vacant parcel for $125,000 in 2003. It has a 2013 appraised value of $247,300, according to the assessor.

Source: The Daily News Online & Chandler Reports

– Daily News staff

Former Memphis Wrestling Promoter Dies in Accident

Former Memphis wrestling promoter Corey Maclin has died in motor vehicle accident in Mississippi.

The Mississippi Highway Patrol says the 43-year-old Maclin was southbound on Interstate 55 just south of Sardis around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday when his vehicle swerved into oncoming traffic and rolled over, throwing him from the vehicle. Maclin was pronounced dead on the scene.

Maclin was alone in the vehicle.

Maclin was a wrestling promoter in Memphis and formerly worked with Jerry Lawler before the two became embroiled in a trademark lawsuit over the name “Memphis Wrestling.”

Maclin joined the ABC affiliate in Memphis in 2010, where he was a sports anchor for 2 1/2 years.

He also worked for the Memphis Rockers basketball team of the WBL and the Memphis Hounddawgs of the ABA.

– The Associated Press

School Board Bans Corporal Punishment

Less than a week from the start of the first year of the consolidated school district, countywide school board members Tuesday, July 30, approved a series of policy decisions that reconcile differences between the old Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools systems.

The changes include banning corporal punishment in the merged school district and doing away with a requirement that every school have a Parent Teacher Association.

The changes repeal policies of the old Shelby County Schools system.

Although the county schools policies permitted principals to use corporal punishment, board members were told principals and teachers seldom if ever used the option. Memphis City Schools specifically banned corporal punishment.

The county school system’s requirement that all schools have Parent Teacher Association chapters was replaced instead with a policy saying the school system encourages the formation of “parent-led organizations” at each school that could include a PTA chapter as well as Parent Teacher Student Associations or Parent Teacher Organizations.

In other action Tuesday, the school board approved a contract for the W.E.B. DuBois Consortium charter school organization to establish a charter school within Hillcrest High School in Whitehaven.

The one-year agreement is for the school year that begins next week. The consortium is the charter school organization that includes former Memphis Mayor and Memphis City Schools superintendent Willie Herenton, which will also operate a similar charter school within Northside High School with the new school year that begins next week.

– Bill Dries

Construction Begins on Hattiloo Theatre

Construction has begun on the Hattiloo Theatre in Overton Square.

The $2.8 million, 10,600-square-foot black repertory theater is rising at the northwest corner of Monroe Avenue and Cooper Street and will feature two stages for larger and smaller shows.

Hattiloo will be the fourth theater on both sides of Cooper between Union and Madison avenues, including Playhouse on the Square, Circuit Theater and TheatreWorks.

Hattiloo was founded by Ekundayo Bandele in 2006 and operated out of converted retail space at 656 Marshall Ave.

The city of Memphis, which is building a $15 million parking garage and detention basin at Overton Square, acquired the property for the new theater from Loeb Properties for around $330,000 and is leasing the land to Hattiloo for $1 a year.

Bandele, the founder of the black repertory theater company who named it for his two daughters, said at a June groundbreaking: “We’re not breaking ground on a building. We are breaking ground on a pulpit. That is what the arts is. Arts speaks from the soul. We are going to speak from the soul and tell the American experience.”

– Amos Maki

Memphis-based nexAir Picks New PR Agency

Memphis-based marketing and communications agency archer-malmo has been tapped as the advertising and public relations agency of record for nexAir.

Memphis-based nexAir is one of the largest distributors of atmospheric gases and welding supplies in the U.S. Services provided by archer-malmo will include advertising, public relations and digital marketing.

Russ Williams, archer-malmo CEO, described nexAir as a “great family-owned business” with a rich history in the Memphis area.

– Andy Meek

Buckman Launches Buckman North America

Memphis-based Buckman International has combined its Canadian and U.S. offices into the new company, Buckman North America.

Executives at the privately held specialty chemical company announced Wednesday, July 31, the North American entity will be based out of the global headquarters in Memphis. But it will maintain the current Buckman office in the Montreal area.

Jim Doan will be president of the new division and Pete Tchouros will be general manager of operations.

Buckman North America is part of a series of changes in the company’s structure recently to what the company calls the OneBuckman global business model. The goal is six operating companies organized by geography to better reach customers.

– Bill Dries

Fed Downgrades US Economic Growth to Modest

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that the U.S. economy is growing only modestly, a downgrade from its June assessment. The Fed expects growth will pick up in the second half of the year, but the more cautious message may be a signal that it’s not ready to slow its bond purchases soon.

In a statement after a two-day policy meeting, the Fed says it will keep buying $85 billion a month in bonds to help lower long-term interest rates. And it says it plans to hold its key short-term rate at a record low near zero at least as long as the unemployment rate stays above 6.5 percent and the inflation outlook remains mild.

Stronger job growth has fueled speculation that the Fed could start reducing its purchases as soon as September. But economic growth remains sluggish and unemployment high at 7.6 percent.

Financial markets had a muted reaction to the Fed’s policy statement. The Dow Jones industrial average was up 30 points shortly after the statement was released; it was up 13 points moments before. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was 2.64 percent, down slightly from 2.66 percent before the announcement.

At its June meeting, the Fed described economic growth as “moderate,” and forecast that growth could be at least 2.3 percent for the year.

Chairman Ben Bernanke said after the June meeting that the Fed could slow the bond purchases later this year if the economy and job market continued to strengthen.

But after Wednesday’s meeting, the Fed described the economy as expanding only at a “modest pace.”

Earlier Wednesday, the government said the economy grew at a subpar 1.7 percent annual rate from April through June. The pace was an improvement from than the previous two quarters, which were revised lower. Still, growth remains sluggish and has been below 2 percent for three straight quarters.

Most economists, including those at the Fed, expect growth will strengthen in the second half of the year. That’s because they believe businesses will spend more, stronger job growth will fuel more consumer spending and government spending cuts will weigh less on overall growth.

– The Associated Press

Team Read Volunteer Training Set for Aug. 13

The Team Read program to train volunteers in one-on-one tutoring to improve reading skills of students is Aug. 13 at Germantown United Methodist Church.

The 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. training session teaches volunteers how to teach foundational words to second graders and conduct testing to determine where a student is at in their reading skills as well as work on building reading endurance in students who are reading at grade level.

The church hopes other congregations will join the effort, which was used at Caldwell-Guthrie Elementary School in North Memphis and Winridge Elementary in Hickory Hill last school year.

Team Read has been adopted for use in all elementary schools by the consolidated school system.